After a General Meeting at Falmer Sports Complex on June 22nd, we are delighted to announce our new Community Benefit Society (CBS) and Football Operations Board.
On the CBS board the following positions were agreed upon:
Chair: Kev Rowe
Vice-Chair: Geoff Hunt
President, Ambassador, and CBS advisor: Gary Pleece
Vice-President: Dave Southon
Club Secretary: Ashley Ridley
Men’s Senior Representative: Dave Baker
Women’s Senior Representative: Charlotte Smyrk
Head of Operations: Dave Baker
Fixtures Secretary: Mark Walker
Stadium Manager: Garry Butterworth-Hayes
Kev Rowe returns for another spell as chair after his previous stint a few years back, with Gary Pleece, club founder and ex-chair, working on CBS recruitment from his new ‘upstairs’ office as president alongside the vice president, Dave Southon. Vets manager, Geoff Hunt, takes up the vice-chair role, Charlotte Smyrk, captain of the women’s team, represents the women and girls, whilst Dave Baker not only takes up the first team manager role but also that of commercial and treasurer (rolled into operations as we couldn’t fit in chief cook and bottle washer too) and new recruit, Ashley Ridley, joins not only as club secretary but also as part of the first team coaching group. Last but not least, Villa legend, Mark Walker, takes up the role of fixtures secretary for the senior sides.
Two stalwarts of county league football, Tony Gratwicke and Sammy Donnelly, also join Dave Baker in the first team coaching setup. Tony and Sammy have arrived from Southwick where they had years of experience in helping to develop winning sides.
A few roles remain to be filled: u23s management team, a youth representative and social secretary. So if anyone wants to step forward, please do so now!
The Football Operations Board is as below:
Chair: Kev Rowe
Secretary: Adam Walter
Fixtures secretary youth: Gerald Rhodes
Fixtures secretary senior: Mark Walker
Club Welfare Officer: Caroline Bachelor
Treasurer juniors: Juliet Hunter
Treasurer seniors: Dave Baker
A lot of hard work has gone in behind the scenes to get these positions filled and people galvanized behind the CBS, a massive thank you must go out to, Richard Irving, of the Football Supporters Association. Richard has been instrumental in getting the club set up as a CBS in the first place in 2021, as well as turning up for this GM to give us the benefit of his wisdom and to set out the benefits of running a CBS. So thank you, Richard, you’ve been an incredible help.
So, we move forward into the new season with fresh energy and belief, but the hard work starts here and if anyone wants to get involved, the door is always open…
Drop us a line at montpeliervilla@gmail.com